Giants training camp report Day 5: Defense dominates yet again

EAST RUTHERFORD — This weekend and into next week, the Giants defense will begin installing more "odd" fronts and blitz packages into their regular practice repertoire, according to a few defensive coaches.

But if the progress of the offense is any benchmark, they may need to give Eli Manning and Co. a little bit more time to develop, because the offense is still a work in progress.

Don't get me wrong, this is what a training camp under a new coordinator is supposed to look like, but today's first padded practice (shoulder pads, full pads come Sunday) didn't bring the offense much in the way of highlights. Two of the three quarterbacks (not Manning) tossed picks and Manning endured a few false starts, missed handoffs and incorrect reads.

There was the moment when Manning bombed a wobbly pass to Jerrel Jernigan toward the end of 7-on-7s into triple coverage. Jernigan gave up on the pass and there were two members of the Giants secondary with a great shot to pick it off.

There was the moment where Kendall Gaskins fumbled a ball and a red-faced Tom Coughlin hit the pause button on practice to scream at the sidelines about ball security.

There was the moment where Bennett Jackson nearly picked off a bomb to Jernigan during the hurry-up portion of practice. The Giants first-string offense was playing against the No. 2 defense.

Again, we're not surprised, but we'll be interested to see how the defense's new wrinkles impact their progress in the coming days.

• Speaking of that Gaskins fumble, it seemed to come late in the play where Gaskins was on the verge of turning back toward the huddle. Nonetheless, Coughlin wanted a high-energy practice with everyone in shoulder pads and expected Gaskins to hold onto the football until the moment he handed it back to Ryan Nassib. It was the most intense Coughlin has gotten all camp.

• Speaking of Nassib, he continues to struggle in camp. We'll be delving a little deeper into this on Sunday, but even during drills where there are no defenders, he's missing wide receivers by a significant margin. On one play in particular during 11-on-11, a broken play forced him to scramble to his right and he fired the ball right into Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie's gut. Rodgers-Cromartie wasn't able to haul in the pick, but in live action, that would be a touchdown for the defense.

• Another player that appears to be struggling early on is Trindon Holliday. I saw him drop a quick slant that hit him in the numbers today, which was the next in a fairly significant string of drops that he's been credited with throughout camp. You have to think his roster spot depends on his ability to develop within the offense.

• We had the first day of contact today and Andre Williams treated us early. Players on special teams were running a drill simulating a kickoff return where one player ran back, turned and immediately faced another player charging at full speed who began sprinting about five yards behind.

Williams was on kickoff and as linebacker Justin Anderson turned, the Boston College running back lowered his shoulder and delivered the first echoing pad crack of the summer.

• Some other highlights from the first hitting drill:

- Mark Herzlich put a pretty smooth ole on Damontre Moore to get to the ball carrier.

- Dan Fox was trying to keep his balance after getting hit and ended up using general manager Jerry Reese as a balance beam. It looked like he playfully knocked the GM to the ground.

- Devon Kennard has the hit stick. Though it wasn't exactly in the parameters of the drill, he lifted Bennett Jackson and tackled him, much to the delight of the other special teamers.

• We got to see some physical one-on-one matchups between receivers and cornerbacks today for the first time in camp. Some highlights:

- Prince Amukamara and Rueben Randle will be a fun battle to watch this summer. Their first route, a deep post, was highly contested but Amukamara did a nice job forcing his way to the inside and making a tip.

- Rodgers-Cromartie had a nice late bump on Victor Cruz that forced him out of the way of a pass on a 10-yard stop. There's a good chance Rodgers-Cromartie could get away with it on game-day too. Very subtle.

- Antrel Rolle was able to jam Larry Donnell right off the line. Donnell broke free but only after coaches timing the grapple knew that the play would be dead.

- Mario Manningham trucked Walter Thurmond off the line, but Thurmond did a nice job finishing the play. He came back and stripped Manningham before the play was over.

- Daniel Fells pulled off a really smooth out-and-up that enticed Antrel Rolle to bite at the line.

• One alarming thing that stuck out during that drill, though: Quarterbacks have not been hitting their deep balls. It's still early, but there is a lot of extra air under those passes.

• Charles James (off Ryan Nassib) and Mark Herzlich (off Curtis Painter) both had picks today. Herzlich's was especially impressive given that the ball was fired at full speed about five yards away from him.

• We keep seeing Preston Parker, a 2010 Florida State grad, popping up with the first string offense. Marcus Harris and Julian Talley have also done well for themselves this summer.

• Jameel McClain's foot seems just fine. He came on a blitz during an offensive period that heavily featured the play action. Geoff Schwartz and Charles Brown both ended up on the ground.

• Robert Ayers stuffed an Eli Manning quick slant during goal line drills and swatted the ball back on the other side of the formation.

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